Lisa Rogg

Lisa Rogg

Lisa Rogg

Anderson Township, Ohio

Anderson Township, located in the southeastern corner of Hamilton County, Ohio, is one of the most heavily populated townships in the State of Ohio and has the fourth highest population total of Hamilton County’s 49 political jurisdictions.

Bounded by the Little Miami and Ohio Rivers, the community is dominated by rolling, wooded topography that creates scenic vistas of the beautiful natural environment in which the Township is located.Anderson Township has managed to preserve many of these features, while witnessing significant population and commercial growth. Much of this activity has followed Beechmont Avenue (State Route 125), the community’s major thoroughfare that connects much of Southern Ohio to Columbia Parkway (U.S. 50) and Downtown Cincinnati.

Founded in 1793, Anderson Township was the fifth township in Hamilton County, originally bounded by the Ohio and Little Miami Rivers and extending into what is now Clermont County. The first settlement in the Township was believed to be located near the mouth of the Little Miami River as pioneers moved west from Green County, Pennsylvania. In the early 1800s, the dwellings in this area were scattered along the Little Miami River (in settlements such as Newtown) since the wooded hilltops were not conducive to settlement. As time passed, settlers concentrated near Mt. Washington and California, communities that were later annexed into the City of Cincinnati.

Growth in the Township as we know it today occurred in farming outposts such as Forestville, Sweetwine, Fruit Hill, and Cherry Grove. Throughout the remainder of the 1800s, large woodlots were cleared for hardwood andriverboat fuel. This gave way to a rise in agricultural activities in Anderson Township. During this time, a majority of the population growth in the Cincinnati region continued to be focused in the Mill Creek Valley. Thus, Anderson Township remained fairly undeveloped until the suburbanization that followed World War II. This development increase was fueled by the completion of the Beechmont Levee, and later the development of I-275 and I-471,which provided residents more direct routes to Downtown Cincinnati and other parts of the Tri-State. As a result (as reflected in the chart to the right), the population of Anderson Township grew by an average of nearly 1,000 persons per year from the mid 1950s through the early 1990s.

Even as a smaller supply of land in recent years has slowed development, the Township continues to witness around 100 new housing starts each year, along with a steady stream of commercial developments.